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Russian President Vladimir Putin has enjoyed swift upward mobility within the ranks of the Kremlin that is perhaps only possible in the Kremlin. Following Boris Yeltsin's sudden resignation from the office on December 31, 1999, Putin, the Prime Minister and a popular leader, became acting President. He succeeded Yeltsin in official elections on March 26, 2000.

A Palpable Influence

Putin was born in 1952 in Leningrad. Upon graduating from Leningrad State University in 1975, he served in the K.G.B. as a spy stationed in
East Germany until 1989. Putin then joined his alma mater's international
affairs department, though many K.G.B. watchers
speculate that he remained a spy, keeping tabs on the democratic movement. He went to work as an aide for his former mentor, Anatoly Sobchak, a
Leningrad politician. Sobchak was elected mayor in 1991, and Putin joined
his administration, becoming first deputy
mayor. Although he worked behind the scenes, Putin's influence was
nevertheless palpable, especially in luring Western investment.

Putin was recruited from a position in Leningrad's city government to
the Kremlin in 1996 as an aide to property manager Pavel Borodin, who now
faces bribery and corruption charges. In 1998, Yeltsin appointed Putin head
of the Federal Security Service,
the successor to the K.G.B., and called on him in March 1999 to head
Russia's security council. In August 1999 Yeltsin fired Prime Minister
Sergei Stepashin, 47, and his entire cabinet, and promoted Putin,
making him heir-apparent to the presidency.
It was the fourth time in 17 months that Yeltsin had sacked Russia's
government.

Political Neophyte

On New Year's Eve 1999, Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned, and Putin was
elevated once again, this time to acting president. The political neophyte
had been enjoying tremendous popular support, notably in the wake of his
heavy-handed campaign to suppress Islamic
militants in Chechnya, who continue their drive for independence and are
blamed for a series of bomb attacks in Moscow and other cities. Putin's
pursuit of the rebels also contributed to the Unity Party's success in the
recent parliamentary elections, another
indicator of his popularity. The pro-Kremlin group placed second to the
Communists, and ahead of former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov's
Fatherland-All Russia party.

A pro-market democratic reformer, Putin has vowed to revitalize the
foundering economy, fight corruption, subvert Communism, and build a strong
Russia. One of his first moves as president was to grant Yeltsin and his
family immunity from future investigation
into corruption charges.